1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a living tissue ligating apparatus for ligating living tissues by inserting the apparatus into a living body cavity in a transendoscopic manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, it has been well known that apparatuses for clipping living tissues are disclosed in Jpn. UM. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2-6011 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 63-267345. In Jpn. UM. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2-6011, a clip and a manipulating wire is engaged with each other via a hook provided at a distal end portion of the manipulating wire and a connecting member provided at a distal end of the hook, the connecting member having a hook.
In addition, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 63-267345, a plurality of clips are incorporated in an introducing tube; the clips and manipulating member are connected with each other by a substance with its low melting point; and the substance with its low melting point is fused while it is inserted into a body cavity so as to continuously carry out a clip ligating work.
However, in the clipping apparatus disclosed in Jpn. UM. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2-6011, only one clip can be mounted on a distal end of the introducing tube. Thus, only one clip can be used each time it is inserted into a body cavity through a forceps channel of an endoscope. Thus, when a plurality of living tissues in the internal living body cavity are clipped, it has been necessary to do a work that the clipping apparatus is pulled out from the forceps channel of the endoscope every time, and the clips are mounted and inserted into the forceps channel again. Therefore, there has been a disadvantage that complicated and very time consuming work is required.
In addition, there are many disease cases requiring high emergency when a clip is applied to a bleeding site. In such disease cases, such a complicated and time consuming work has been very problematic.
In order to these problems in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 63-267345, there is disclosed a clipping apparatus capable of continuously carrying out ligation by inserting it into the forceps channel only one time. In the clipping apparatus disclosed, a plurality of clips are connected respectively with each other by a substance with its low melting point. Then, a temperature is controlled by a heating element provided at a tip end of a sheath of the clipping apparatus, whereby ligation is continuously carried out. That is, a structure is provided such that the heating element is heated up to a temperature at which the substance with its low temperature is fused, thereby disconnecting these clips from each other.
However, there has been a problem that providing the heating element at the distal end portion of the sheath complicates an equipment structure, and requires another heating source. In addition, in order to open a clip made of a shape memory material, it is required to heat the clip up to a predetermined transform temperature T1. That is, after the clip has been opened, it is possible to reliably control a relationship between a temperature T1 for opening the clip and a temperature T2 for fusing the substance with its low melting point in order to fuse the substance with its low melting point, and then, ligate living tissues. However, this temperature control has been very difficult. In the clipping apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 63-267345, heating means for generating a heat during clip opening and during clip ligation is required. Therefore, there has been a problem that a complicated and time consuming work is required during clipping ligation.